Star Trek Phoenix: Take Off
by Thomas DerWind
Summary: Follow the adventures of Captain Matthew DeWinde. It's a new era come and explore. I do not own the rights to Star Trek.


Star Trek: Phoenix

Book 1: Take Off

Prologue

In the year 2450 the United Federation of Planets launched the USS Phoenix (NCC 78378) and captained by Ian Achilles. In the year 2455 the ship was handed over to Captain Matthew DeWinde a Starfleet Cadet who had passed the odds and had taken only a year and a half to make the rank of Captain. Now his past will haunt him as a new foe emerges from the shadows on the planet Earth…

Chapter I

"Captain's log, I really don't like the star date, so here's the regular day December 20th 2455, amazing ain't it I am now the Captain of the USS Phoenix. Recently my crew has been mended up and the Phoenix is on its way to be repaired. We participated in the Federation-Romulan War and the Federation has won. A treaty has been signed but we're not done yet, we're to remain near the Romulan Neutral Zone, just in case of a sneak attack" stated Matt into his datapad. He was 20 years old and the Captain of his own starship. Matt then walked out of his cabin and looked at the bridge. Three chairs were placed. Two were already taken by the Captain and his First Officer, A.J. Drexel. The other chair would be for the day that Matt chose a Chief Medical Officer. Right now Matt had a Junior Lieutenant who had worked for the Chief Medical Officer who had died during the war. Matt looked at his chrono, just in time to start the day. He went over to the replicator and got some replicated coffee and sat down in his chair looking at the Neutral Zone which was a green nebula. It was this sort of thing that made space a worthy place. This was the outdoors. Matt had heard from his ancestor, that when he was young the wilderness had been the beauty of the world and now space and it's vastness of colors, planets and stars. Matt then heard the turbo lift stop and its doors slid open with a hiss then stepped out Matt's First Officer and Chief Engineer A.J. Drexel.

"Morning" said Matt.

"Hey, Matt, morning to you, so how was your sleep" said A.J. "Peaceful now that we got those green blooded hobgoblins" said Matt talking about the war with the Romulans.

"War is over, pal, man, think we'll be heading home soon" said A.J.

"We'll be heading to Starbase 2 in the Vulcan Sector for repairs then we're out into space" said Matt.

"Great, we're meeting with the _highly logical beings_" said A.J. putting on a fancy accent.

"I wouldn't do that around our Vulcan friends" laughed Matt. He and A.J. had been friends since first grade and now they were shipmates but Matt was the Captain and A.J. followed his orders, willingly, hell no, loyalty, sort of, because it was fun and hopefully he would get to shoot something, hell yes.

"What do you think Joe would think of this" said A.J. sitting down.

"Joe, Eisenhower hmm, probably be a dead man right now" said Matt.

"Oh yeah" said A.J. glumly bringing on a soft spot again.

"Alright, where's that bloody pilot" said Matt.

"Pilot on deck sir" said the Pilot coming onto the bridge.

"What's your name I never did get it at the start" said Matt.

"Pilot's all you need to know Captain" said Pilot.

"Alright, easy enough" said Matt.

All the other officers came onboard to their post on the bridge. A crew of 250 was on the USS Phoenix and they were all into their stations. Shields were up but weapons were offline. Matt looked at the bridge and then Matt's datapad buzzed.

"Hmm" said Matt grabbing it. ADMIRAL JAMES GREER ON SCREEN, Matt's datapad read.

"Got to take this" said Matt walking away into his cabin.

"Alright" said A.J.

"Speak to me" said Matt.

"DeWinde good to see you're still alive" said Admiral Greer.

"Thank you Admiral, how are things going back on Earth" said Matt.

"It's going well, a few fluxes in the dilithium power structures near Command but that normal around this time of year" said Greer. It was summer and usually in San Francisco it was a hot one which caused the dilithium to rapidly speed up and move which was sometimes hard to contain during this time.

"Well that's good" said Matt.

"Listen, DeWinde, I want to thank you for all that you did, you caught a Romulan spy, and ended the war, there are medals waiting for you" said Greer.

"Thanks Admiral but that won't be necessary" said Matt.

"It wasn't a request that was an order Captain" said Greer.

"Alright, sir" said Matt.

"Sir, when did you start calling me that" questioned Greer.

"When did you start calling me Captain" asked Matt.

"You would have made a good S.I. Officer" said Greer. Admiral James Greer was the Admiral of Starfleet Intelligence. He was a teacher at the Academy who had taught Matt all he needed to know about Intelligence but Achilles had been the one who had inspired Matt to become a Captain in Starfleet. In the end Achilles won, but Matt had brought with him the knowledge he had learned from Greer and was applying it into the field.

"I don't know Admiral, I don't think we'll ever know" said Matt.

"Neither do I" said Admiral Greer. "Nice talking to you Captain, take care, and you can head to Vulcan, situation is clear now" said Greer signing off.

"Same here Admiral" said Matt finishing the connection. He looked at his cabin which was his home in many cases. All his possessions were here especially the model he had of the Titan missile Phoenix which had sparked the United Earth Government formation and the first Warp Five starship then came the USS Enterprise the first ever ship to ever be highly decorated and sparked off many other Enterprises with every growing year of new inventions. Now the USS Phoenix was the supreme ship of the fleet reaching the Warp 9 speed it was the fastest and sleekest ship that Starfleet had at its disposal.

"Pilot set a course for Vulcan" said Matt.

Chapter II

"Sir, there's a growing flux in Sector II" said the control worker at the San Francisco Dilithium Power Plant.

"That doesn't seem right" said the Boss overseeing the operations.

"I'll do a read out check up on it" said the operator doing a diagnostics.

"How long will that take" said the Boss.

"About two hours at the most" said the operator.

"Do it" he said.

"Understood" the operator punched in a few commands and watched as the computers did their work. Sector II, sounded familiar. He then rolled his chair over and grabbed the file of Sector II. Yeah, it did, three Starfleet officers had been there over the boiling vat of dilithium junk. Two had fallen in. Yeah, the female had been engaged to the one Starfleet officer that was still alive today. The other was an insane Starfleet officer bent on killing the two of them.

"Hmm" said the operator looking over at the Sector II map. "Nah" he said going back to work.

"Alright, let's see everything is in order" said A.J. down in the Warp Core room looking at it. They had to reboot it since it had been shut off during the war. Not the best move in A.J.'s mind but it had beaten those damn Romulans so it was good enough for him.

"That's good then" said Matt.

"Very good, the Vulcans did a good job, I suppose" said A.J. Like Matt, A.J. had an attraction to defending this ship especially its reputation and maintenance. He was the Phoenix's Scotty you could say, except A.J. was Irish not Scottish.

"So where do we go now" said A.J.

"Well, we're supposed to depart on our voyage to Deep Space 10 but we're ahead of schedule" said Matt.

"Hmm, holodeck then" said A.J.

"Why not" said Matt.

"Alright" said A.J. Matt's datapad went off and Matt grabbed it. ADMIRAL ACHILLES URGENT it read.

"Not yet, Achilles wants us" said Matt grabbing the turbo lift up to his office.

"Admiral what's the problem" said Matt.

"Damn it" said Achilles.

"Achilles" said A.J. this was A.J.'s mentor and friend.

"God, we got a situation, something went wrong in Sector II of our dilithium power plant, overload maybe, do not return to Earth, I repeat do not return to Earth" said the Admiral.

"Admiral" said Matt as the line went dead.

"What the hell was that all about" said A.J.

"Greer told me earlier they were having minor fluxes in the DPP but said it was probably nothing" said Matt.

"Hmm, Sector II" said A.J.

"What was the Sector" said Matt realizing something.

"Sector II" said A.J.

"Damn, coincidence" said Matt thinking back.

"What are you talking about" said A.J.

"A.J. sit we need to discuss all the details" said Matt.

"Okay" said A.J.

Half a year ago…

Matt had been a Cadet a year and a half ago and only six months prior to Matt becoming a Captain was the pivotal moment in his life that would lead him to become the Captain. He had been engaged early on in his life, a stupid decision Matt would look back on. He had fallen in love with a fellow Cadet M.D. Cathy Longstride but he hadn't been the only one, Matt's friend Joe Eisenhower had also fallen in love with the beautiful blue eyed girl. He also didn't understand the concept of rejection. He soon began his deep hatred for Matt and plotted a plan to kill him. That was the fateful night in the Dilithium Power Plant Sector II. Matt and Cathy had been kidnapped and Matt was about to be plunged into the vat when he broke free. He then fought with Eisenhower and as such Joe fell in. He had caught the catwalk on his way down. Cathy held Eisenhower's boot.

"Take my hand!" Matt had yelled to Joe.

"If I can't have her, YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" hissed Joe, and that voice still echoed in Matt's mind. That moment had been the moment where he had chosen to become a Captain, to get away from his past and serve the Federation for it was they who had not sent him to the Australian prison, they said it was out of self-defense and there was no crime in that. In the end Matt had lost two of the people he cared for but Sector II problems were causing Matt to have a deep echoing of the past.

Present

So Matt looked up the file of the DPP Earth plant.

"Alright, there" said Matt pointing to the heat index that was given to all starships.

"Hmm, think we should go to Earth" said A.J.

'Yeah, we're going to Earth" said Matt.

Chapter III

The Phoenix warped out of space and looked at Earth below. "San Francisco" said A.J. as the Phoenix slowly started lowering down onto the Western part of the Northern American continent. "So how long has it been since we been away from San Francisco, six months" said A.J.

"Yeah, if we were still at the Academy we be finishing our second year" said Matt.

"Yeah, so glad we're not there" said A.J.

"Hmm, remember when we were on T.V." said Matt.

"That was awful" said A.J.

"No kidding" said Matt who looked back on that day.

"Good Afternoon, Federation citizens we are joined by a new Captain, Captain Matthew J. DeWinde and his First Officer Anthony J. Drexel" said Martha Schmidt of Federation Star News.

"Thank you" said Matt.

"So, Captain you beat the all-time record of three years held by the famous Captain James T. Kirk and the new record is one and a half years, how does it feel" said Martha.

"Fine, you know being a Captain is something that I worked hard for, and trust me the test was not simple" said Matt.

"I would imagine so, but you were also the one that actually won the Kobayashi Maru" said Martha.

"Martha, I didn't win, and I didn't lose, trust me, saving lives is all a part of the job, I lost a few lives on the Kobayashi Maru and my ship were lost. But we did the job that's all that matters" said Matt.

"But you didn't cheat on it" said Martha.

"Cheat no I didn't I used my head" said Matt.

"And you're the Captain of the USS Phoenix because of it" said Martha. Everybody knew of the Phoenix starship, since it was the prize of the fleet but it had also been in storage for a while for a Romulan spy had set it up where no one would be able to use it for the purpose of attacking Romulus. They had failed of course to the efforts of Matt putting them behind bars and ending the war.

"Now about Joseph Eisenhower" said Martha.

"He was my friend" said Matt.

"Yes, so tell us about your downfall" said Martha.

"Hmm, downfall, interesting choice of words" said Matt.

"You going to answer or not" said Martha.

"Well lady, Joe was my friend too, two men had a disagreement and now you want that on national television, how sick has this world become" said A.J. for the first time.

"Well" said Martha.

"Thank you, A.J. but she asked a question, as my colleague said it was a disagreement, over a girl. Hmm stupid in my opinion when I look back on it especially the fact that two lives were lost that day, and that's why I swore on that day that only I would dare put myself in danger and I make my crew do anything that I wouldn't do" said Matt.

"Wow, thank you, Captain DeWinde, First Officer Drexel" said Martha slowly wiping a tear away. Had it been real or had it been a fake? Matt had no clue and probably never would.

The Phoenix was in San Francisco Airspace now. "Sir, can't get through, with the dilithium radiation in the air can't get a lock using the transporter" said the transporter officer over the intercom.

"Alright, that's fine we'll take a shuttlecraft" said Matt. "A.J. come on, grab a few engineer officers see if we can fix the dilithium plant. I'll grab a few security officers.

"Oh not the black shirts" said A.J. groaning.

They met at the shuttle bay and took Shuttle-Phoenix 01 down to the SFDPPY. Matt grabbed a phaser and clipped it onto his belt.

"You know I'm supposed to stop you from going on away missions but I really don't care" said A.J.

"Yeah and if you did I would override you" said Matt.

"Shh, sirs take a look at this" said one of the security officers.

"What is it" said Matt.

"Dead body, looks like an engineer" said the Security officer.

"It is" said Matt pressing down trying to find a pulse.

"Cause of death" said A.J.

"I'm not a medical officer, probably by the blast though looking at the burns" said Matt.

"Hmm, does an explosion rip out there eyes" said A.J.

"Jesus, this isn't good" said Matt.

"Hmm, the radiation is low not to bad no need for exo-suits" said A.J.

"Yeah alright, A.J. take your men and send them to go fix this mess. Security provide protection understood" said Matt.

"Yes, sir" said the men going into the Sector.

"This isn't good" said A.J.

"You think you and I will head to the Academy then to Command" said Matt.

"Alright, let's get going" said A.J. walking away towards the shuttle. Matt looked behind himself he felt like someone was watching him from a far. And yet he was correct. Perched up high a disfigured face, with deep hatred brown eyes stared at the man who had ruined his life.

Matt walked through the doors of the Academy, phaser still on his belt unaware of the danger.

"Quiet, way too quiet in my opinion" said A.J.

"I know A.J. go check on the S.U.B." said Matt. The S.U.B. stood for Starfleet Underground Bunker established during the Dominion War after the Breen had attacked Earth.

"On it" said A.J. heading to the west end of Academy. Matt headed towards the Command Center on the east end. The Academy was connected to Starfleet Command. Matt walked into what had been his commanding officer Admiral Jacob Flint's Western Fleet office. Flint had been along with Achilles pushing Matt to be the Captain of the USS Phoenix. Flint had been the First Officer onboard the USS Phoenix when Achilles had been a Captain of the vessel. Nobody was in the room. Matt looked at Flint's computer. On it were two files, the first was a retirement file planning on going by the point that Matt would be going on his sixth or seventh year on the Phoenix. Matt then heard a creak. Matt grabbed his phaser and pointed it at the doorway.

"I knew you would be in here" said the voice from outside. Matt had heard that voice before, except now it was creaky and shaky.

"Do I know you" said Matt.

"You better have, DeWinde" the voice boomed. The door opened and revealed a disfigured male with black hair on one side then no hair on the other, scars running across his face, burns on his hands and body. His legs pointed in. It was Joe Eisenhower.

"Joe" said Matt looking at his old friend.

"Don't call me that, _we_ are enemies" said Eisenhower.

"Joe, I can help you, please, we can get you to a doctor, get you back up in perfect condition" said Matt.

"No, you will have me killed, I won't die by your hands, but you'll die by mine" said Eisenhower.

"Joe, c'mon I can help you" said Matt.

"Die" said Joe jumping up. Matt pointed his phaser but was too late as Joe's weight clashed onto Matt's body. They fell out of the room crashing through the window down onto the grassy ground. Matt pushed Joe off him and rolled over. He looked at Joe. His disfigurement challenged his mind over the fact that his friend was trying to kill him.

"Joe, there is something you need to know" said Matt.

"You stole her" said Joe.

"I didn't steal her Joe, she didn't love you, she told you that" said Matt.

"You lie" said Joe.

"Look at the past Joe, look into your memories" said Matt.

"No, they're to painful" said Joe.

"They are for me too, pal, I remember her as much as you, she wouldn't want you to kill me!" yelled Matt trying to get sense into Joe's big head.

"Why are you trying to help me" said Joe.

"That's what friends do, they help each other" said Matt.

"You lie" said Joe.

Matt brought his phaser up and fired it stunning Joe as he got up to charge Matt again.

"No, I'm not" said Matt. He activated his comm. beacon, "I need a medical staff pronto" said Matt.

Chapter IV

"How's he going to be Doc" said Matt. They were in San Francisco General Hospital.

"Well, he'll be fine looks as good as he did a year and a half ago" said the Doctor walking away.

"Thanks Doc" said Matt to him as he passed by.

"Sure thing Captain" said the Doctor waving goodbye.

Matt walked into the General Hospital room and looked at Joe who was staring in a mirror.

"Why didn't you kill me" said Joe.

"I don't kill my friends" said Matt sitting down comfortably.

"I listen to what you had to say, I was a fool, she never did like me for I was a stupid jerk, letting you down like that I'm sorry I tried to kill you and I murdered her" said Joe.

"All is forgiven, I believe in second chances, and" said Matt plopping down a test in front of Joe. "So does the Academy, you pass this and you work for me as my Chief Medical Officer" said Matt walking away.

"Aren't I going to get tried or something" said Joe.

"You were, but I put them down to having you on my ship where I can keep an eye on you, yes, that's right Joe I'm your parole officer" said Matt looking at Joe's face.

"Thanks, Matt" said Joe for the first time calling Matt by his first name.

"Pleasures all mine Joe" said Matt walking out.

"So, wow, he is alive" said A.J. looking at Joe through the window.

"Yep, and he's talking his Medical Examination test as we speak" said Matt.

"You're sure you want him onboard the Phoenix" said A.J.

"I'm keeping an eye on him" sternly replied Matt leaning forward.

"You can fix the outward appearance but I need to know if he's mentally stable and trust me it'll be hard to cheat in front of me" said Matt.

"I hope you know what you are doing" said A.J.

"So do I A.J." said Matt.

"Well I'll meet you back on the ship" said A.J. being beamed up to the Phoenix. The area had been swept and cleared and things we're returning to normal. The Academy was running again. Matt had a meeting with Admiral Flint. Matt walked in and looked at the shattered window.

"Sorry, sir" said Matt pointing to the window.

"Yeah, well it can be fixed like all things, but lives are what's important and you, Captain, just helped us out with a potential crisis. We couldn't leave the S.U.B with Eisenhower tearing the place apart then you had a crew working on the DPP which by the way is running efficiently now" said Flint.

"Death toll" said Matt.

"5 not to bad" said Flint.

"Yeah, injured" said Matt.

"10, 6 severe injuries 4 not life threatening" said Flint.

"Okay, so we let the government handle the rest of it?" said Matt.

"Yep, that simple, we did our job averted a crisis now the Federation Congress can work on the rest" said Flint.

"Alright, sir, so Phoenix" said Matt.

"Go to Deep Space 11 that'll be all" said Flint.

"Deep Space 11 thank you sir" said Matt getting up and shaking the Admiral's hand.

"Pleasure's all mine Captain, oh and Captain keep an eye on that Eisenhower fella, I have a bad feeling about that one" said Flint.

"Of course sir" said Matt.

"Alright, Trish, send in Vice Admiral Picard" said Flint over his private intercom as Matt walked out.

Matt was on the Phoenix bridge as Joe Eisenhower walked onboard followed by his escort security officers. "Alright, Mr. Eisenhower welcome aboard the Phoenix ain't she a beauty" said Matt.

"Yes, sir" said Joe.

"Well, Mr. Eisenhower meet my Temporary Chief Medical Officer Ivan Nico'lach" said Matt.

"Pleasure to meet you" said Joe.

"You'll work under him to get used to Sick Bay, I'm counting on you two to keep this ship's crew in perfect medical condition" said Matt.

"Understood" said the two Medical officer. They then headed off to Sick Bay.

"Alright, Pilot, Deep Space 11" said Matt.

"Ay sir setting course" said Pilot. "On your mark, sir" stated the Pilot.

"Warp 9 engage" said Matt. The Phoenix warp engine began churning its dilithium and then shot off into space leaving Earth behind.

Deep Space 11 had been the latest station the Federation had comprised of. Deep Space 10 had been a worthy station before its environmental atmosphere had a malfunctioning and had been condemned for when an investigation on how the malfunction had occurred no answers were found and nothing could be done about the station. Deep Space 11 had then been built and was going along the Gorn border.

"Deep Space 11 coming up" said Pilot.

"Understood" said Matt sitting down in his chair. Deep Space 11 was a huge station with a grey coating and a classic 2370 look to it.

"This is the USS Phoenix, Deep Space 11 do you copy" said Matt opening a hailing frequency. Static erupted over the comm. chatter.

"Static" said the communication officer.

"Static" said A.J. "That doesn't make sense, what are they doing taking a nap or something" stated A.J.

"This is Captain Matthew DeWinde of the USS Phoenix" said Matt.

"You'll have to wait, Captain, the Gorn are in usage of this right now" said a Gorn hissing coming across the channel.

"Gorn" said A.J. looking at Matt.

"Commander aboard that station, what have you done with the Federation crew on board that station" commanded Matt.

"The station's crew is fine well for the one's that didn't resist" said the Gorn Commander.

"I request I have that crew" said Matt.

"Not a chance, Captain" said the Gorn cutting the transmission off.

"Sir, station turrets are locking onto us.

"Red Alert" said Matt.

Shields automatically came up as Deep Space 11 fired its main phaser turrets. "Shields are holding" said the shield officer.

"Alright, well how do we attack a Federation starbase" said A.J.

"Quite easy, Pilot create a distraction, A.J. come with me" said Matt.

"On it" said Pilot setting up a diversion maneuver that he had learned back in the Academy.

Matt grabbed a shuttlecraft with A.J. following behind. Matt grabbed the pilot's chair and took it out of the Phoenix's shuttle bay and headed towards Deep Space 11. They went below the Phoenix and headed towards the docking bay.

"Well what do we do" said A.J.

"I took the shuttlecraft that still had its heavy armament on it since the war and had some of the rifles and grenades on it" said Matt.

"Alright so we're going to fight through a bunch of Gorn" said A.J.

"Not exactly, transport activate" said Matt to the Phoenix.

"On it sir" said the transporter officer onboard the Phoenix. He teleported Matt from the shuttlecraft onto Deep Space 11. Matt fired his phaser on the Gorn officer who was in charge of watching the station.

"Alright, Phoenix, you have our position" said Matt.

"Yes, sir, and we got a lock on the station's crew, can't transport them out but we can lead them to you" said an officer on the Phoenix.

"Alright, send it to my tricorder" said Matt holding it out. "Got it, radio silence, now" ordered Matt ending all comm. from him to the Phoenix.

"We move left" said Matt pointing two fingers to his left. A.J. peered his head over and looked down the hallway. Two Gorn were watching in the opposite direction. A.J. made two fingers and pointed in the direction of the Gorn. Matt nodded his head. Matt rolled into the hallway and fired upon the two Gorn taking them down to the ground.

"Too easy" said Matt getting up.

"In here" said A.J. opening the prison cell door.

"Thank god, Captain" said the Station Commander.

"How long they been here" said Matt.

"At least since the war ended" said the Commander.

"Well isn't that nice" said A.J.

"Phoenix do you copy" said Matt.

"Hear you loud and clear" said the transporter officer.

"Alright, beam up 10" said Matt.

"Understood" said the transporter officer.

The Starfleet officers were then beamed aboard the Phoenix. "Sir I move fast if I were you, shields are holding at 55%" said the shield officer.

"Understood" said Matt who then looked at A.J. "Alright, let's get going" said Matt running to where they had come from. As they turned the corner there stood in front of them the Gorn Commander.

"Get out of the way" said Matt.

"Not a chance Captain" said the Gorn.

"Well isn't this just great, our only exit is blocked" said A.J.

"Not quite, Phoenix beam aboard 2" said Matt, he had planned not to do this but if it was the only way he would. Matt and A.J. we're beamed aboard the station and Matt went over to the nearest control console and plugged in a security code that would blow up the shuttlecraft. The shuttlecraft wouldn't completely destroy Deep Space 11 but Matt had parked the craft under the life support and with the explosion came the fact that the Gorn were out of life support.

"Alright Pilot get us out of here" said Matt activating the shuttlecraft self-destruct sequence.

"Nice work there, Matt" said A.J.

"Yeah, not so bad yourself" said Matt to his First Officer.

"So what do we do now" said A.J.

"We do what we always do, we go out into the galaxy" said Matt.

"Hey, Matt, you'll be glad to know none of the officers are severely injured" said Joe.

"That's good to hear Mr. Eisenhower" said Matt.

"Keep you posted sir" said Joe heading back to Sick Bay.

"Defiantly going to need him at least he going to tell us what's going on in Sick Bay" said A.J.

"I'm going to keep an eye on him for a while but otherwise he's doing a fine job" said Matt.

"Hmm, alright" yawned A.J. "Time for some sleep, see you in the morning" said A.J.

"Good idea" said Matt.

Chapter V

"How's the reactor" said Matt.

"Running fine, it's incredible in my opinion that we don't have a few more ships like her" said A.J.

"Yeah, but there's a lot of time and work that goes into it, trust me something new and big will come and the Quadrant-class will be shut down" said Matt. They were in Engineering Staff Room and we're talking about all the things the Federation had down.

"Trans warp is what I think we should connect this too, Lord would that be a blessing" said A.J.

"Wouldn't it" said Matt.

"I'm going to do it one day and I'm going to earn that Great Invention award or some crap like that" said A.J.

"Yeah when" said Matt.

"When I'm a retired ol' geyser" said A.J.

Then came on Interstellar Federation News, IFN on the Engineering's T.V. "The Deep Space 11 incident has been taken care of thanks to the brave efforts of the Phoenix's crew" said the reporter.

"That doesn't make sense that you weren't on the news" said A.J.

"I specifically requested I don't get mentioned" said Matt.

"But the ship gets mentioned' said A.J.

"Precisely, this ship deserves the glory" said Matt.

"I suppose your right, a storage containment unit is precisely what I like to have done to me, it makes sense that the Phoenix deserves the glory since being out of commission for a while" said A.J.

"Thank you for agreeing with me" said Matt.

"Captain report to bridge, Captain report to bridge" said Pilot over the intercom.

"Keep her running A.J." said Matt heading up to the bridge.

"Already am" said A.J. as Matt walked through onto the elevator up to the bridge.

"What's the problem" said Matt walking onto the bridge.

"We got a distress signal ranging from the Centauri Sector" said the comm. officer.

"Alright one of ours I suppose" said Matt.

"Cargo vessel" said the officer.

"Pilot set a course" said Matt.

"Aye Captain" said Pilot heading off towards the Centauri Sector.

Matt sat down in his chair. "Notify Sick Bay we could have injuries."

"Understood Captain" said the comm. officer relaying the message to Sick Bay.

"Sir entering Centauri Sector now" said Pilot.

"Scan the ship" said Matt.

"On it" said the sensor officer.

"Wide range sensors are picking up two ships coming into the area" said the other sensor officer.

"What type" said Matt.

"Scavenger, Ferengi sir" said the officer.

"Ferengi" said Matt.

"Yep, Ferengi" said the officer confirming it on the computer.

"Damn, what's so important on that ship" said Matt.

"Sir, it's a Federation-Starfleet Cargo ship, it's carrying military weapons on it" said the close range sensor officer identifying the ship.

"Those are unmanned ships, little resistance damn, what happened to it then" said Matt.

"Mine sir, during the war maybe" said Pilot.

"Then I guess we get our supplies and boogie" said Matt. "Transporter One, Two and Three stand by" commanded Matt.

"Understood Captain" said the Transporter Officer.

"Alright, Pilot hold our course, weapons, and tact, hope you still got it" said Matt.

"Targeting" said the weapons officer.

"Fire" said Matt.

"Firing, phasers" said weapons hitting a Ferengi scavenger ship.

"Sir, I'm getting a transporter array off of the second Ferengi ship.

"Wow, blast it scavengers" said Matt.

"This is a Ferengi occupied space" said a Ferengi coming over the comm. line.

"Your ship maybe here but that doesn't mean it's Ferengi space, that is a Federation ship with Federation cargo" said Matt.

"And whom am I speaking to" said the Ferengi.

"Captain Matthew DeWinde of the USS Phoenix, I think you know who we are" stated Matt coldly implying.

"Damn it, it's that ship that ship that you know" said the Ferengi talking to someone off screen.

"Well let's get out of here" stated the voice off screen.

"Good day Captain" said the Ferengi.

"Same to you" said Matt innocently replying.

The two Ferengi ships then took off. "Should we follow" asked the Pilot.

"Anything stolen" said Matt to the sensor officer.

"Checking onboard the ship terminal mainframe list and… crap they got one of the Prototype Model Mk V of the Proton Torpedoes" said the sensor officer.

"How many" said Matt.

"At least a dozen" said the sensor officer

"Sir, the Mk V can bring down a shield to 65% in one hit sir, if they load that up onto their ships or reverse engineer it or being who they are sell it then the Federation is no longer a superpower" said the weapons officer.

"Alright, whose the nearest ship in the area" said Matt.

"USS Hamilton on it" said the comm. officer knowing what to do.

"Sir, I'll tell them to come to this location" said the comm. officer.

"No, tell them to go after the Ferengi, the Hamilton's captain has dealt with Ferengi more often than me" said Matt.

"Alright sir" said comm. officer.

"Transporter prepare to beam aboard the cargo" said Matt.

"Understood Captain" said the transporter officer.

"Well if anyone needs me I'll be in my office" said Matt walking into his quarters. Matt looked on his computer that read the causalities of the Federation-Romulan War, it was the final total that would ever be given hopefully. Matt hoped it would be the last though. He had lost commanders and other essential people during this latest war. Incoming message then popped up onto Matt's screen. Matt grabbed some paper work as the screen showed Matt's cousin Zach DeWinde on the screen.

"Captain DeWinde" said Zach.

"Vice Admiral DeWinde" said Matt identifying Zach's new rank.

"Just checking in on my young cousin" said Zach.

"I'm not that young from you Zach" said Matt.

"Only three years but remember I'm two steps up from you, Captain" said Zach.

"Yes, Vice Admiral" said Matt.

"Yeah, the Eastern Fleet though" said Zach.

"Western" stated Matt.

"Ah, Flint and Picard, good men" said Zach noting Matt's Admiralty superiors.

"Yeah, death toll came out" said Matt.

"Yeah, yeah it did what spooked everyone was the USS Hawk I'm not surprised though, they hired an inexperience young rookie to take on that ship" said Zach.

"I'm an inexperience young Captain" said Matt.

"No, you're not you fought in war and won the day for the Federation, you're no rookie, you're a hero and coming from your cousin who also fought in this war as well as the captain of the USS Jericho that's a compliment" said Zach.

"Thanks, Zach I'll see you later" said Matt.

"Yeah, catch you on planet side one day" said Zach.

"Captain we got some good news" said a voice over Matt's comm. badge.

"Understood I'm on my way" said Matt. "Duty calls" stated Matt to Zach as he cut the transmission.

Matt walked down to the transporter room.

"Matt, there's a lot of stuff that came from the ship, sir" said A.J. who was there having his engineering staff coming through the hallway and then back out with the silver metal cargo boxes.

"Well then let's see if we can get these to its drop off point" said Matt.

"Well, I say we should be thankful that the Ferengi only got one thing off that ship, all this well it surely would have been bad if they had gotten all of it" said A.J.

"Why anything else important" said Matt.

"One of the new warp cores that reaches Warp 9.1 nothing special just 1 tenth faster than Phoenix" said A.J. He gave a big huffed "If you can put it in a ship I'm mean the components are this tall" he continued on about it while Matt just phased right out.

"Sir, we have everything from the ship" said the transporter officer.

"Alright, Pilot" said Matt activating his comm. badge.

"Yes, sir" replied Pilot.

"We got 30 minutes to deliver these pizzas if we want our customers to pay, you think we can get them there" said Matt making a 21st Century joke he had heard was true about that society.

"Plotting course" said Pilot. "Warp 9" he stated.

"Engage" said Matt.

Chapter VI

"So it's official then" said Matt noting the change in Joe Eisenhower's uniform.

"Yes, sir" said Joe. "I am the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Phoenix.

"Well congratulations then I look forward to the reports on the health of our officers aboard this ship" said Matt.

"Thank you Captain it means a lot to here you say that" said Joe.

"Glad to hear it, good luck Joe" said Matt getting back to his work as Joe took his leave.

Matt looked at his computer and then looked back at the files that laid on his desk the files that mapped out charted space. "No, this isn't like Kirk's time where everything out there was new, Starfleet is changing as well as the Captains of the ships, we…" said Matt as A.J. walked in.

"Sorry to bother you but I think you need to check this out" said A.J. Matt and A.J. walked onto the bridge looking at the scraps of debris floating past the Phoenix.

"What's this" said Matt.

"A Federation ship destroyed by Cardassians says some of my staff" said A.J.

"How do you know" said Matt.

"Residue" said A.J.

"Hmm, we continue to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before but we can't do that anymore" said Matt to A.J.

"Explain" said A.J.

"We mostly know what's out there, we have gone so far that now we need to defend the Federation so that's our mission" said Matt.

"To protect the Federation" said Joe.

"Yes, to defend the Federation" said Matt.

"We need an oath then" said A.J.

"We do don't we" said Matt

"These are the Voyages of the USS Phoenix, it's continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before" started Joe.

"Good, that'll work and we'll add this to serve and protect all attributes of the United Federation of Planets and its allies and to form new bonds and to hold old ones" said A.J.

"The USS Phoenix rises above the rest when all others fails" said Matt.

"What should we do now sir" said Pilot.

"Find those Cardassians" said Matt to the sensor officer.

"Yes, sir" said Pilot.

"Go after them" said Matt.

"On it" said Pilot following into pursuit.

"Notify Starfleet we're after the Cardassian ship that attacked a Federation vessel.

"Understood, they agree with your decision sir" said comm. getting chatter back from Starfleet.

"Fire" said Matt moments later. The Cardassian ship was badly injured. The Dukat onboard sent their surrender and then warped out of the area as Matt's last hit struck on their rear bumper.

"Nice sir" said Pilot.

"Alright, Pilot let's go, Warp 8 it's time to defend the Federation" said Matt.

_**These are the Voyages of the USS Phoenix, it's continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before, to serve and protect all attributes of the United Federation of Planets and its allies and to form new bonds and to hold old ones. The USS Phoenix rises above the rest when all other fails. **_


End file.
